A few points regarding this mechanic, its implementation, lack of realism and effect on the fun in game:
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Giving such a mechanic a percentage-based chance of occurring is just a different way of spelling “RNG” (And yes, it is percentage based on top of every requirement, a shot that shattered once might not shatter the second time around despite everything being 100% the same)
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It is not applied for reasons of realism but at random. Historically speaking the most common round to “shatter”(read as fail) upon contact with armour was APHE and its derivatives. This cannot just be chalked up to bad metallurgy as it remains a factor even to this day. But bad metallurgy can exasperate the issue, as can specifically shell design. the Russian 47mm APHE comes to mind, a round so badly designed and of so poor metal quality that it was taken out of service during an acute ammo shortage, because it was literally a waste of time to even shoot it.
So APHE should definitely be affected by this mechanic, and it should be affected the most out of any shell type. The same also goes for solid AP btw.
- Shattering does not depend on specific shell, but purely on the general type. There is no differentiation between different APDS, APCR and other shells with this mechanic applied to them. So, a metal core APDS shatters the same as a high purity tungsten core APDS with a special tip design to reduce failure. The same goes again for all other shells with this mechanic.
So why is it even here? It is not at all realistic (in how it functions, in how it is implemented onto the shells, in its reach and more), it is not well balanced. With the current implementation of this mechanic the game is less realistic than it was before the mechanic was added.
So, I have 2 proposals.
1 Option) just remove the mechanic.
I know there are some who are against removing anything from the game no matter what, so go to option 2 then.
For all the remaining people who actually care about having a good game I see this as the best option. It is easy to do, removes one of the most frustrating aspects of playing multiple vehicles and does not change much in the form of gameplay for a majority of players.
The downside of this would be that some vehicles might see an increase in their performance, after all this mechanic was almost certainly introduced solely to nerf a certain class of vehicle, no matter how much people cry “But it’s for realism” (if that were the case 2) and 3) would not exist in my listing at all). But let’s just take a look at these vehicles, or rather the class of “light, fast autocannon armed vehicles”:
Since this change was implemented, we have seen major nerfs to this specific class.
- massive nerfs to traction and mobility in general
- Overpressure in combination with the addition of solely HE based classes
- massive buffs to APHE, both due to overpressure being added as well as a general reduction in fuse times from 0.5s to now usually 0.2-0.2s
- general increase in player skill in regard to them now knowing that 50cals and similar are useable weapons!
- massive nerfs to APC, HVAP and APCR penetration calculation. We saw a nearly 60% reduction of penetration(impact angles as stated on the stat card) above 50° and between 20% and 30% reduction in pen at 20°-30° angles, with buffs at the 0° angles being the only positive in that change, an angle with no chance to even have shell shatter occur. So, the removal of shell shatter would not buff the penetration, it would just remove an RNG based mechanic from it. so instead of 8 shots penning and 2 shattering now 10 would pen.
The biggest benefactors from this would be tanks with non-auto cannons. While the above nerfs apply to them as well they do not have the benefit of shooting 10 shells in 2s and therefore not caring about the two shatters out of 10. For them a single bad roll on a penning shot can end the match.
So, I do not expect the removal of shellshatter to massively buff autocannons at all. It will however make the game more predictable and reward game knowledge instead of putting it up to the RNG gods or having the player not take risky shots just because he has a shell loaded that can shatter.
2 Option)
This one will require a lot of work and will likely affect every single person playing ground RB.
- Give shellshatter to every type of shell that could experience it historically and today:
- APHE, and variants
- HE, and variants
- AP, and variants
- Non tungsten darts
- HEAT (non-FS)
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Give each individual shell individual properties instead of all the same, even just “type” based would not be enough. These properties have to include the materials used (soft steel, hard steel, impure tungsten, etc.)
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make the mechanic exclusively dependant on how it hit, removing the RNG aspect. As every shell we fire in the game is supposedly the “best quality it could be in today’s world using old materials” there should be no reason to attempt to simulate material variation in the shells and armour.
Again, this will affect essentially everyone who plays ground, but it will also make this realistic (or as realistic as we can have in a game without making it an utter slog) instead of fully unrealistic as it is now.
I am fine with either of the two, though gameplay wise option 1 wins out because it makes the game less frustrating, meanwhile option 2 can make the game more rewarding (with the RNG removal) as good game knowledge gets rewarded.